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In this video, you will see that West Virginia is suffering 6.9% unemployment, due to the Obama Administration's determination to shut down the coal industry with excessive regulations, thanks to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). There is no mention of the more than 50% unemployment suffered by 300,000 Navajos, or the destruction of jobs in Northern Arizona!

Please submit your comments to the EPA expressing your opposition to the jobs-killing "Clean Power Plan." The environmentalist groups--who don't live anywhere near Northern Arizona--are writing in favor of the plan four to one. We need your comments! The letter Arizona Senator Sylvia Allen used to submit a comment is below. You are welcome to use all or part of it, but please write how this plan will affect you and your family.

As a rural Arizonan living in Gila County, I understand some of the concerns that we share. Rural and tribal Arizonans live in and of the land. We are sustained by it. We respect and love it. Rural Arizona offers rich natural resources that have fed, clothed, sheltered, and provided energy and water to millions of people.

The Democrat Party has waged war on our livestock, timber, and coal industries, the very industries that sustain Arizona's rural and tribal communities.

As noted in a November 24 news article, Senator Carlyle Begay has recently changed from the Democrat to Republican Party. I have never met Sen. Begay, but I've observed him and heard his remarks during the last legislative session. He is a highly intelligent, thoughtful, well-educated man. Both Democrats and Republicans can politicize his decision all they want, but I know that he will be guided by his convictions, not politics, whenever he casts his votes. The welfare of his constituents, many of whose ancestors were the First Arizonans, will rank far above either party. He believes that the time has come for his people to achieve prosperity. In fact, he wants all Arizonans to prosper. Please watch this video. Notice the many terms and phrases that he uses. This is what the Republican Party stands for.

In the following video, you will gain some insight into why Senator Begay is adamant that "change must happen" and why he believes it is the Republican Party that is working to find solutions that will help the people that Sen. Begay represents. He explains that "families living within our rural and tribal communities are in a crisis. Unemployment is as high as 80%. Roads, bridges, and infrastructure are wasting away. Many Native American families are without electricity and clean, running water. Native American students have some of the lowest graduation rates and some of the highest drop-out rates. Native Americans have the highest rates of suicide in the country." Senator Begay desires to work within the Republican Party to build a bridge connecting those who need and want a chance with those who can help provide that chance. The Republican Party is the party of progress, the party of opportunity. It is, now, Senator Begay's Party.

Don’t be fooled into believing that the BLM cares about a bunch of dusty, old tortoises that are supposedly endangered.

Think about it. In the name of the poor, dear tortoises, the BLM just spent millions of dollars to round up 300 of Cliven Bundy's "trespassing cattle." They managed to kill about 130 of them in the process. Why? Because, not only don't they care about a bunch of tortoises, they also don't care about a bunch of cows. Using their helicopters they ran many of them to death in 100-degree desert heat. Many of those cows were pregnant and weren't given veterinary care; many of the newborns that survived their births died from lack of nourishment and callous treatment; many cows were fat with milk, having been separated from their newborn calves. Each cow that died at the hands of the BLM thugs had a value of about $1500.

The BLM had enough money to pay thugs to intimidate, taser, and throw Americans to the ground. The BLM had enough money to hire cowboy mercenaries to help round up Cliven Bundy's cattle. The BLM had enough money to send over 80 brand new shiny trucks to Clark County. The had enough money to arm their thugs with helmet, body armor, and AR-15s.

Put on your thinking cap. Does this make logical sense? Of course it doesn't! Because it isn't the truth.

In fact, the federal government doesn't care about any endangered species. If they did, they wouldn’t allow the wholesale slaughter of every "endangered" critter that gets cooked by SOLAR and chopped up by WIND.

So, what do the federal government and their corporate cronies care about?

The EPA is under investigation for a practice called Sue and Settle. Environmentalists in government and private organizations have found ways to create new regulations by fashioning lawsuits tailored to have courts institute policy changes. Both parties involved in the lawsuits secretly decide in advance what the outcome will be and how much taxpayer money will be transferred to the environmental group in the settlement. In other words, they are exploiting the courts to change laws, and in the process, helping to fund radical environmental groups without legislative or taxpayer consent. Millions of taxpayer dollars have been given to these groups.

At the EPA Hearing on November 14, the EPA asked those who wished to speak to come up and take a seat at the front table two at a time for efficiency. So I’m making my comments and the guy sitting next to me is with the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Is he supposed to be the balance to my conservative comments? No, we are both there trying to convince the EPA to leave Navajo Generating Station (NGS) alone. Or at least leave something in operation after they make their final ruling, because we both clearly see the damage changes at NGS will have on Arizona’s economy. It’s not just a federal authority out of control or state’s rights issue. This agency is messing with our everyday lives.

There were about 200 people at the hearing and about 100 of them made statements. It broke pretty cleanly into the Sierra Club wanting quick, drastic changes that will close NGS, and everybody else. Everybody else included legislators, union workers, Central Arizona Project, farmers, Indian Tribes, and average citizens. Rep. Warren Petersen and Joy Staveley from Canyoneers wanted the EPA completely out of our business and to back off completely from NGS. They have the right principles for the long term fight with the EPA, but I’m afraid it’s too late for principles to triumph on NGS.

The Technical Working Group (TWG) Negotiates a Surrender

In June of this year the Technical Working Group (TWG) got together and proposed a negotiated surrender as opposed to having the EPA force them into an unconditional surrender. TWG consists of Salt River Project and the Department of the Interior as major owners of NGS; Central Arizona Project (CAP) as the biggest customer of NGS; Gila River Indian Community as a major customer of CAP; the Navajo Nation because NGS is on their land, and they supply the coal to make it go; and two environmental groups, Environmental Defense Fund and Western Resource Advocates. The Sierra Club was originally part of TWG, but walked out when the plan wasn’t severe enough to satisfy them.

So why didn’t the State of Arizona get a seat at the TWG table? Technically because the EPA is dealing directly with the Navajo Nation and it’s not an Arizona issue, but it’s safe to assume the other members of TWG were afraid a State of Arizona representative couldn’t be trusted to surrender fast enough.

The November 7, 2013 Town Council Meeting provided Gilbert Watch with the saddest and most telling evidence to date that proves that 4 out of 7 Town Council members have lost their ability to represent their constituents, unless those constituents are the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, the Small Business Alliance, SRP, Town Officials, and neighboring jurisdictions. These Council members include Mayor John Lewis, Vice Mayor Ben Cooper, and Council members Jenn Daniels and Jordan Ray.

They approved one of the largest increases in regulations on private property and on the building industry, in Gilbert history. What is truly disappointing is that they did this in spite of having received months of evidence from private citizens for why the Council should not approve these regulations. It is also remarkable that the Council is preparing to approve the next round of codes, as dictated by the ICC (International Code Council) for 2015.

Three Council members opposed passage of the Codes: Victor Petersen, Jared Taylor, and Eddie Cook. Council member Victor Petersen favored an option which would have allowed passage of only those codes that would have reduced regulation.

Each of these three Council members deserve a Thank You from Gilbert citizens! Victor.Petersen@gilbertaz.gov, Jared.Taylor@gilbertaz.gov, and Eddie.Cook@gilbertaz.gov.

The ICC

Over the last ten years, the ICC (International Code Council) has morphed into an organization that has forced builders all over America to comply with building codes that no longer address honest, urgent safety issues. Rather, these ICC codes force everyone to become captive consumers of products that the ICC mandates through its "codes." The obscene proliferation of these codes also forces builders and everyone in the building and construction industry to comply with an ever increasing time-consuming bureaucracy. More bureaucrats and more training are needed to ensure they consistently interpret the codes.

Just like the ICC, 4 members of the Gilbert Town Council have morphed into facilitators of Big Government tyranny. When you watch them reason and justify their rationales, they "sound nice." But what exactly are they doing? They are pushing centralized government. They do not trust the citizenry.

Their actions prove that they do not care about the damage they are doing to families and homeowners who are forced to pay thousands of dollars more than necessary for their homes. They do not care about the grief these codes have caused self-employed citizens who work in the construction industry who must adhere to these mandates. They do not understand Free Market principles. They reject the notion that these people are experts in their fields. They do not care that many of them have closed their businesses. They reject clear evidence that the Free Market reacts quickly to changing conditions, and that it's the government-imposed codes that are slow to change.

Gilbert Watch has reported on the ICC codes for months. Gilbert citizens and self-employed business people have been emailing and speaking out to the Council for months. They have been meeting with Town Staff, and supplying tons of research.

At the Nov. 7 meeting, there were 6 citizens who spoke in opposition; 24 citizens had sent letters; there were 19 citizens in the audience who were in opposition but did not speak; and 16 people who were in opposition who submitted their names to a list. That's 65 citizens documented in the Minutes of the meeting. And it doesn't count more citizens who showed up to the meeting.

The Council gave more credence to the representative from the Gilbert Chamber of Commerce, the representative from the Small Business Alliance, and the representative from SRP (Salt River Project). In fact, I doubt seriously if the members of these organizations have much first-hand experience dealing with these onerous codes.

There was one citizen who spoke in favor of all the codes, including the Green and Energy Codes. A quick search revealed that he's a Democrat and a member of Sierra Club.